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Cast:
Ching
Ying-Cho
Wu
Fu Sheng
Liao
Chung Yu
Writer:
Alex
Law
Producer:
Mona
Fong
Alex
Law
Director:
Mabel
Cheung
Score:
 
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THE
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT
AKA:
N/A
Year:
1985 Reviewer: Andrew
Saroch
Illegal
immigrant Cheng Jiun Chiou toils away in New York's
labyrinthine Chinatown, having to dodge the authorities when
they catch him working in a sweatshop and trying to make a
living despite his limited grasp of English. Cheng's young
friend suggests that the easiest way to get a Green Card might
be to marry his older sister, offering her money to pose as
his spouse until the authorities are satisfied that he can
stay in the country. Li Shiue Hong - the prospective 'bride' -
is desperate to earn money for her desired cosmetic surgery
and so agrees to the plan just as long as the two never
actually live together. While this idea initially works, the
immigration department become suspicious when, after a few
visits to Cheng's flat, there seems to be no sign of his new
wife. To this end the pair decide to flesh out the pretence
and prove that their relationship is not just a masquerade.
Their decision to spend time together may be borne out of
necessity, but they also discover that they do have things in
common and that their feelings for each other are no longer
apparent for the sake of those around them.
Immigration,
and particularly illegal immigration, has been a political hot
potato for many years and only seems to get more emotive with
time. Mabel Cheung's award-winning 'The Illegal Immigrant' is
therefore still resonant a full twenty years after its release
and will doubtlessly offer food for thought in years to come.
It is vital, though, to separate the impassioned subject
matter from the actual execution of the story and decides
whether Cheung's work here still has the mark of an
award-winning production.
For
the most part, 'The Illegal Immigrant' does justify its
critical status and avoids the withering signs of age that
have afflicted films of the same era. Mabel Cheung makes sure
that her work is not just a polemic on a subject close to her
heart - it would be so easy to use the storyline to manipulate
the viewer in one way or another - and attempts to tell a
human story rather than a thinly-veiled 90 minutes of
rhetoric. Granted, Cheung does offer some commentary on the
plight of her lead characters, but she never lets the film
slide into a masochistic exploration of degradation. There's a
balance to the argument she presents and, alongside her
writer/husband Alex Law, manages to achieve a gritty realism
without revelling in the difficulties that the eponymous
character faces.
If
there was an obvious flaw in Mabel Cheung's film, it would
probably be in the writing behind the lead character. Cheng
Jiun Chiou is a personable protagonist whose plight is
engrossing enough, but there is a sense that the viewer is
missing out on significant parts of his back story. Cheng is
an educated, intelligent man who survives his time in New York
because of his willingness to do any kind of work. We discover
that he was an actor in his native China and a man of minor
status, but his reasons for travelling thousands of miles to
live the life of an illegal immigrant is never properly
explored. Some impetus behind his actions, some explanation as
to what forced him to leave would have given the character a
greater motivation and perhaps shed some light on the
decisions that many face in this situation.
'The
Illegal Immigrant' is, at times, two-dimensional, but it
manages to maintain a palpability because it never seeks
sensationalism. The expected sombre ending - part and parcel
of Hong Kong cinema - is present, but is not quite predictable
as it seems. The production also gains a certain weight
because of the earthy cinematography that gives New York the
edgy look that has disappeared from U.S. cinema of the past
decade or so. This slice of social-realism is about as far
from the stereotypical Shaw Brothers output as can be
imagined, though that should not deter viewers looking out for
this well-acted, well-paced piece of Hong Kong cinema.
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